the teenager accused of murdering three young girls in southport will appear in court this morning charged with producing the poison ricin and possessing a military study of an al-qaeda training manual. at least 51 people die in eastern and southern areas of spain. and less than a week to go, till the us election kamala harris delivers what she calls her closing argument in washington. donald trump campaigns in the battleground state of pennsylvania. good morning from westminster, where in a few hours we will get labour's first budget in m years. the chancellor will deliver what could be one of the biggest tax—raising budgets in a generation this afternoon, with a pledge to put

"more pounds in people's pockets" and grow the economy. rachel reeves is expected to say her priority is to "invest, invest, invest" but will warn that there are "no short cuts" to restoring economic stability. our business reporter ben king has the story. business owners are nervous. here in leighton buzzard and around the country. new governments often put up taxes — this one will be no exception, and they feel they are in the firing line. i feel that smaller businesses are going to take the brunt of this budget because the government have promised they won't hit working people, so where else can they raise their taxes from? and we are seen as an easy target, to be honest. employers' national insurance contributions, which they pay on top of wages, are expected to go up, which could raise an extra £20 billion. the national living wage will go up by more than 6%, and even more for 18—20—year—olds. business rates might go up too,

and a new package of workers' rights will be expensive for bosses. here at the treasury the chancellor has been working on ways to raise here at the treasury the chancellor has been working on ways to raise those billions of pounds she needs to invest to improve the nhs, prisons and other public services, without breaking that key pledge not to raise taxes on working people. because labour has ruled out more borrowing to cover day—to—day spending, tax rises are inevitable. rachel reeves might choose to put up fuel duty or the taxes on gains made by selling assets like shares. she might try to boost revenues from inheritance tax and freeze the levels where we start paying different rates of income tax for another year. outside the cafe they were sceptical the working people pledge would be met. i don't believe it. i do not believe a word of it. they will find a sneaky way, they will call it something else, but they will. what is a working person? somebody who works in a little shop here? they might own the business which you're going to pay national insurance.

the guy running an office or running a business that has a little bit of money, it seems the burden is falling on him in a massive massive way at the moment. labour promises a budget for economic growth, and with growth more taxes come in, and the chancellor's difficult trade offs become much easier, but increasing costs put growth at risk at places like this small engineering company. we will have to make a decision between growth, potential expansion by employing more people or playing safe and being able to reward the people we have accordingly, because at the end of the day we have so much in the budget, it only goes so far, you can'tjust magic it out of thin air. the chancellor has warned of difficult decisions and the choices she announces today will set the course for the economy, and the new government. ben king, bbc news. joining me now is our political correspondent, nick eardley. it is impossible to exaggerate the

importance politically of this budget isn't it importance politically of this budget isn't i— importance politically of this budget isn't i importance politically of this budaetisn'ti- ~ , budget isn't it absolutely, we will sit there this _ budget isn't it absolutely, we will sit there this afternoon _ budget isn't it absolutely, we will sit there this afternoon and - budget isn't it absolutely, we will sit there this afternoon and try i budget isn't it absolutely, we willl sit there this afternoon and try and figure out what this means for each of us individually but this is the defining moment for this new government. forget everything you are heard, it was the precursor to today, because this is the moment that the new chancellor sets out what the priority are for this government, she said overnight, that todayis government, she said overnight, that today is about choices, so the choices that this government is prepared to make about the economy, about the tax we all pay, but also, where they want to spend money, there will be big spending on the nhs, big spending on schools and a lot of money towards investment as well. this afternoon will be about going over the detail to figure out exactly what that means, but politically, it is the chance for rachel reeves's first ever emate chancellor to deliver one of these statements to say this is what this labour government believes in, this is the strategy for the next few years, and it will define what our

politics looks like for at least the next four—and—a—half years. politics looks like for at least the next four-and-a-half years. there are so many _ next four-and-a-half years. there are so many objectives _ next four-and-a-half years. there are so many objectives for- next four-and-a-half years. there are so many objectives for the - are so many objectives for the chancellor, which is why it is described as walking a tightrope but what about the raw politics here, the risks? ., , , the risks? there are plenty, there are risks that _ the risks? there are plenty, there are risks that the _ the risks? there are plenty, there are risks that the economic - the risks? there are plenty, there l are risks that the economic strategy looks a bit confused if you are talking about economic growth but at the same time putting up tax on business which we will see with the national insurance hikes from employers, there are risks that the electorate won't think this is what you promised them during the election, we stood here during the election, we stood here during the election campaign, and talked about tough choices to come, the party didn't really grapple with those tough choice, they avoided them, people like the institute for fiscal studies said there would have to be tax rises or spending cuts, the government is going to choose tax rises over spending cuts but a lot was stuff that was talked about during the election campaign, the

fine wording of manifesto also be pored over, whether the labour party, the government now, when it said we won't put up national insurance, whether that was for employees or employers, and you can bet your bottom dollar the argument you hearfrom rishi sunak his last big day as tory leader he will respond to the budget. he will argue labour has broken the proms it made during the election campaign and todayis during the election campaign and today is about trying to frame that argument. trying to, the government will say we need to do this because of the mess, the tories will say we knew this was coming, labour puts taxes up. it is a big moment. we will talk throughout the course of today, thank you very much. ijust want to take you through how the day is going to go, because just after 11 the chancellor will come out of ii the chancellor will come out of number 11, with the red box, the first time for labour in 14 years, they are delivering a budget, the first woman to deliver a budget, and of course, throughout the course of

the day we will have reaction, we will hear from people, the day we will have reaction, we will hearfrom people, from businesses, we have our correspondents in leeds, and right around the country we will be getting expert analysis as we go through the day, but, the chancellor goes from downing street, to the commons, there is pmqs first and after pmqs she delivers that budget statement. let us talk to our economics correspondent andy verity who is here. andy, good morning. in terms of how much the chancellor is expected to raise, tell me about that and where she is expected to target in terms of the tax rises the big number — target in terms of the tax rises the big number is _ target in terms of the tax rises tie: big number is something like target in terms of the tax rises tue: big number is something like £40 billion, that is the total amount than rachel reeves is expected to make. part of the tradition after an election it is very commonly a tax raising budget, where will that come from? the big number is supposed to be on employers' national insurance. that is where we expect the

government to raise £20 billion, thatis government to raise £20 billion, that is what they have been briefing people. on top of that we may have in addition a decision to freeze the tax thresholds above which we start paying tax, that was something that was done by rishi sunak, starting in 2021, and it has taken a lot of money off working people, actually in spite of the promises of both parties not to raise tax, they are not raising the rate but they have been raising the amount. if rachel reeves still freezes temperature income tax thresholds it means a greater proportion of salaries will be taxed and we will end up paying more, even if the rates haven't gone up. more, even if the rates haven't gone u n . ., more, even if the rates haven't gone u. ., a more, even if the rates haven't gone up. two quick thing, she is saying she will put _ up. two quick thing, she is saying she will put more _ up. two quick thing, she is saying she will put more pounds - up. two quick thing, she is saying she will put more pounds in - up. two quick thing, she is saying i she will put more pounds in people's pockets, what do you think that means? there has been so much talk in the last few weeks of changing the fiscal rule, explain that to people who are watching. more pounds in --eole's people who are watching. more pounds in people's pocketser _ people who are watching. more pounds in people's pocketser we _ people who are watching. more pounds in people's pocketser we won't - people who are watching. more pounds in people's pocketser we won't know. in people's pocketser we won't know until she stands up, there may be some giveaways in addition to the take away, so while she is taking

money off us, perhaps rises in capital gains tax, there may be some to give back in other directions, but in terms of the fiscal rules, those are the key things, the self imposed constraints the chancellors imposed constraints the chancellors impose on themselves, this isn't something dictated by the markets for they choose what the rules are going to be, she is choosing rules that are loser, the overall debt maybe allowed to grow a lot if some of what is being borrowed is for long—term investment by changing the targets. the other thing is day—to—day spending, benefits and public sector salaries that will have to stay within what we collect from taxes, that is very con tricktive and if she sticks with that it could mean some austerity. andy, thank you very much. let us talk more about that day—to—day spending. what will the budget mere for public services? there is a promise of more investment in the nhs but pressure for other departments, here is ben chu from bbc verify.

rachel reeves says she will end aussiety which is taking to mean no more cuts in department budget, how do we reconcile these things which are contradickty? let us start with the context, this shows departments day—to—day budget, adjusted for inflation since 2010, so health is round 38% higher, health has been a protected department, look at transport, no higher today, than it was 14 years ago and justice, that is 14 percent lower and communities and housing still almost 60% lower, these are so—called unprotected departments, and we will have to wait to see the detail of their new spending settlements to understand what has been going on. it might be they have cuts in the short—term, that the promise of bigger day—to—day budgets later in the parliament. but it might also be that the chancellor has, as her

predecessors did prioritised health spending, health spending is so large as a share of overall day—to—day spending, not far off half of the total in fact, that when it gets an increase it simply squeezes out the other smaller departments, so only when we see the final numbers in the budget will we be able tojudge final numbers in the budget will we be able to judge how credible it is for rachel reeves to claim she has ended austerity for unprotected departments. let us look at the sectors, the budget will focus on, joining me now is our health editor hugh pym and elaine dunkley. hugh, to you, the nhs is likely to be the big winner, the nhs is likely to b